读《京华烟云》看林语堂爷爷的chinglish
林语堂爷爷的《京华烟云》(A Moment in Peking)，由于欠费已久，还没看完结局就被迫还掉，他老人家手笔真是风趣，他用英语为世界解释着中国的文化，其中有不少看着令人啼笑皆非的chinglish，实质上蕴含了不少智慧。此处略摘一二，见笑。
“seven times seven”days（七七四十九天）
Wooden fish（木鱼）
Now Shanghan was the disease which the doctors most dreaded:the most debated,the most written about,the most obscure and least understood,and the most complicated disease in Chinese medicine.It combined a variety of illnesses,as chuanching shanghan,or a type of fever that passed from one system to another….attack first the three yang systems,and might pass on to any ot the three yin systems or all three.（论伤寒和阴阳）
…she believed in tsunghsi,or confronting an evil by a happy event,in short,having the wedding while the boy was ill.（冲喜）
Now every woman knew the Kuanyin,or Goddess of Mercy,by her longer tiltle”The Great Spirit of Great Kindness and Great Mercy,Saving the Afflicted and the Distressed.”（救苦救难观世音菩萨）
Living,I shall be a Tseng family person,dead,Ishall be a Tseng family ghost.（生做某家人，死坐某家鬼）
Union of wine cups（合卺交杯）
Stupid girls are virtuous.（无才便是德）
Exactly the qualities that made an official,which were completely different from qualities that made a man.As matters were in those days,a good man could not be an official;an active man could not be an official;an impatient man could not be an official;an honest man could not be an official…..（旧官场……太长了，不想全打上来）
Mr. Fu went on to expound his all-embracing Dualism.All life was the result of two forces——centrality and eccentricity.（二元论？其实不太清楚具体指什么）
When Heaven intends to call a man to a great mission,He always first hardens his ambition,belabors his muscles and bones,starves his body,denies him the necessities of life,and frustrates what he sets out to do,so that his ambition may be kindled and his character be strengthened and he may leartn to do what he could not do before.（天将降大任于……此处省略XX字）
Kindom of Grape Teeth（葡萄牙，我囧了好久……）
Now human beings are of the five types represented by the Five Elements:Gold,Wood,Water,Fire,Earth.Marriage is a science of matching types.There are types that beautifully complement each other,and types that,if not mutually destrctive,would hasten one another toward common destruction.”Inbreeding”between a boy and a girl of the same type should be discouraged because it would only emphasize or argument the orginal tendency n the husband or the wife.This is clear enough:marrying an indolent(water) wife to an indolent husband would only make matters worse,and marryying a quick-tempered(fire) husband to a quick-tempered wife would just burn up the couple.（论五行和婚姻搭配）
White-cut chickenreated （白切鸡……=_=）
“The world’s affairs,well understood,are all scholarship.Human relationships,maturely experienced,are already literature.”（世事洞明皆学问，人情练达即文章）
Your mother thought I was a fox-spirit,but you treated me very well and your brother has a good heart.That is why I am still living today.(银屏说的，狐狸精)
If this new bride of Sunya’s can be bullied by her husband or anbody else,I will cut off my head to be a stool for you to sit upon.（桂姨说的，把头看下来给你当椅子坐= =）
Relatives are worse than strangers,to throw a stone at a man after he has fallen into a well.(牛老爷说的，落井下石)
Be a monk for a day and strike the bell for a day.（当一天和尚敲一天钟）
Who told her not to give birth to a son?（桂姨说的，谁让她不生个儿子？哈哈）
This was Chinya’s second marriage,being known as “restringing”(of a violin).（续弦）
Men attending to the ouside and women attending to the inside.（男主外女主内）
“seven times seven”days（七七四十九天）
Wooden fish（木鱼）
Now Shanghan was the disease which the doctors most dreaded:the most debated,the most written about,the most obscure and least understood,and the most complicated disease in Chinese medicine.It combined a variety of illnesses,as chuanching shanghan,or a type of fever that passed from one system to another….attack first the three yang systems,and might pass on to any ot the three yin systems or all three.（论伤寒和阴阳）
…she believed in tsunghsi,or confronting an evil by a happy event,in short,having the wedding while the boy was ill.（冲喜）
Now every woman knew the Kuanyin,or Goddess of Mercy,by her longer tiltle”The Great Spirit of Great Kindness and Great Mercy,Saving the Afflicted and the Distressed.”（救苦救难观世音菩萨）
Living,I shall be a Tseng family person,dead,Ishall be a Tseng family ghost.（生做某家人，死坐某家鬼）
Union of wine cups（合卺交杯）
Stupid girls are virtuous.（无才便是德）
Exactly the qualities that made an official,which were completely different from qualities that made a man.As matters were in those days,a good man could not be an official;an active man could not be an official;an impatient man could not be an official;an honest man could not be an official…..（旧官场……太长了，不想全打上来）
Mr. Fu went on to expound his all-embracing Dualism.All life was the result of two forces——centrality and eccentricity.（二元论？其实不太清楚具体指什么）
When Heaven intends to call a man to a great mission,He always first hardens his ambition,belabors his muscles and bones,starves his body,denies him the necessities of life,and frustrates what he sets out to do,so that his ambition may be kindled and his character be strengthened and he may leartn to do what he could not do before.（天将降大任于……此处省略XX字）
Kindom of Grape Teeth（葡萄牙，我囧了好久……）
Now human beings are of the five types represented by the Five Elements:Gold,Wood,Water,Fire,Earth.Marriage is a science of matching types.There are types that beautifully complement each other,and types that,if not mutually destrctive,would hasten one another toward common destruction.”Inbreeding”between a boy and a girl of the same type should be discouraged because it would only emphasize or argument the orginal tendency n the husband or the wife.This is clear enough:marrying an indolent(water) wife to an indolent husband would only make matters worse,and marryying a quick-tempered(fire) husband to a quick-tempered wife would just burn up the couple.（论五行和婚姻搭配）
White-cut chickenreated （白切鸡……=_=）
“The world’s affairs,well understood,are all scholarship.Human relationships,maturely experienced,are already literature.”（世事洞明皆学问，人情练达即文章）
Your mother thought I was a fox-spirit,but you treated me very well and your brother has a good heart.That is why I am still living today.(银屏说的，狐狸精)
If this new bride of Sunya’s can be bullied by her husband or anbody else,I will cut off my head to be a stool for you to sit upon.（桂姨说的，把头看下来给你当椅子坐= =）
Relatives are worse than strangers,to throw a stone at a man after he has fallen into a well.(牛老爷说的，落井下石)
Be a monk for a day and strike the bell for a day.（当一天和尚敲一天钟）
Who told her not to give birth to a son?（桂姨说的，谁让她不生个儿子？哈哈）
This was Chinya’s second marriage,being known as “restringing”(of a violin).（续弦）
Men attending to the ouside and women attending to the inside.（男主外女主内）
